Apparatus for changing the behavior of an electronic device

ABSTRACT

A novel apparatus and method for changing the behavior of an electronic device is provided. In an embodiment, an electronic device includes the functionality of a cellular phone, a voice mail system and a calendar application. The device is configured to use the calendar application to determine whether to direct a phone call to the user or whether to instantly direct the call to voice mail.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present application relates generally to electronic devices and moreparticularly to a method for changing the behavior of an electronicdevice.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The world has grown accustomed to the presence of mobile telephonicdevices (MTD) such as cell phones and phone-based Personal digitalassistants (PDA's). These devices function in a wireless network whereone or more such devices communicate using voice or data to each otheror to external services. Services can include making external phonecalls to land-line voice networks, making phone calls to other cellphones, leaving or retrieving voice mail messages or exchanging datamessages. Despite the prevalence of MTD's, however, more and more peopleare finding problems with MTD's as they interrupt people at inopportunetimes to notify the user of various events such as the receiving of aphone call. MTD's can, for example, ring a number of times before theuser responds, the call ends, or the call goes to voice mail. Suchringing, although useful in alerting users of various events, can alsobe a source of constant interruption, annoyance and even embarrassment.For example, cell phones ring loudly in the middle of lectures, exams,movies, performances or various ceremonies, causing embarrassment to theuser of the device, interrupting the event and distracting the otherparticipants. Moreover, in circumstances where there is a liveperformance, a lecture or an actual person performing a ceremony, theringing (or any other loud method of notification) distracts thelecturer or the performer and can ruin the event.

These problems have become so widespread that organizers of events havestarted speaking out and some have started taking precautions. Forexample, most lectures and movie theatres post signs asking people toturn off their cell phones and personal digital devices. Also, it is notuncommon for the chair of meetings, or the first speaker of anyproceeding to politely remind all participants to turn off their cellphones or other electronic devices.

In an effort to solve this problem, manufacturers have come up withdifferent mechanisms where users can swiftly turn notification off, forexample, by pressing an icon or a special key to stop notification orthey can request all calls be forwarded to voice mail. However, althoughthis mechanism puts a stop to the interruption, by the time the user hasa chance to turn notification off, the event is already interrupted.

In another effort to solve this problem, manufacturers have come up withdevices that have different modes of notification, such as vibrationsand visual alerts, so that users can change the mode of notificationwhen attending functions where interruptions are a serious problem.However, one of the shortcomings of these devices is that the user hasto remember to manually change the method of notification at the righttime. Many users do not put their mind to changing the method ofnotification, until the device goes off in the middle of the event andcauses the embarrassments, interruptions and distractions describedabove. Moreover, in an effort to change the method of notification,users may mistakenly choose an even louder or just as distractive modeof notification and do not notice their mistake until the device goesoff and interrupts the event.

Another problem is that if the user has set the MTD to a quiet mode anddoes not intend to answer any calls, the caller is forced to wait on theline for several rings until the call can be re-routed to a voice mailserver within the network structure, and the caller is able to leave avoice mail. This can be very frustrating for callers, who, for example,may know the person is unavailable and are only interested in leaving avoice mail. As a result, such callers may give up and hang up, and theuser and caller miss an opportunity to communicate.

It is known to provide means for recording a voice mail both at a switchor other location operated by the service provider or to record thevoice mail locally at a telephone voice mail or locally at a wirelesstelephone device. See WO 02/05527, entitled “Method and System for CallAnswering”, assigned to Soma Networks, Inc., the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference. WO 02/05527 is, however, primarilydirected to bandwidth optimization and does not address the problems ofcertain unwanted interruptions. Despite the various means for recordinga voice mail, it is still common for devices to ring before roiling tovoice mail, thereby interrupting the event, unless the subscriberremembers to turn off the device, or otherwise effect forward settingsto force incoming calls directly to voice mail.

Additionally, electronic devices can provide a variety of functionsincluding notifying users of various events throughout the day. Asmentioned, events that can require notification include receiving atelephone call by a cell phone or a regular telephone. Other events caninclude receiving an e-mail or fax by a chiming of the daily alarm oralarm notifying the user of an upcoming appointment.

Although notifications are useful in alerting users of various events,they can also be a source of constant interruption, annoyance and evenembarrassment. Users of devices with notification functions can faceconstant interruption and distraction as the devices ring or vibrateloudly at inappropriate times and places. For example, cell phones ringloudly in the middle of lectures, exams, movies, meetings, performancesor various ceremonies. Such inopportune ringing causes embarrassment forthe user of the device, interrupts the event and distracts the otherparticipants. Moreover, in circumstances where there is a liveperformance, a lecture or an actual person performing a ceremony, theringing (or any other loud method of notification) distracts thelecturer or the performer and can ruin the event. Another example is thechiming of the notification function on an electronic device during animportant meeting, perhaps in the middle of an intense conversation orduring court proceedings or cross-examination of witnesses. Once again,the chiming of the notification function can cause embarrassment to theowner of the device, can interrupt the mood of the event and cangenerally disrupt the entire event.

These problems have become so widespread that organizers of events havestarted speaking out and some have started taking precautions. Forexample, most lectures and movie theatres post signs asking people toturn off their cellular phones and personal digital devices. Also, it isnot uncommon for the chair of meetings, or the first speaker of anyproceeding to politely remind all participants to turn off their cellphones or other electronic devices.

In an effort to solve this problem, manufacturers have come up withdevices that have different modes of notification, such as vibrationsand visual alerts, so that users can change the mode of notification ifthey are attending functions where interruptions are a serious problem.However, these devices fall short of solving the problem of audiblenotifications in inappropriate times and offer only a limited controlfor the user to reduce the problem. One of the short comings is that theuser has to remember to manually change the method of notification atthe right time. Many users do not put their mind to changing the methodof notification, until the device goes off in the middle of the eventcausing the embarrassments, interruptions and distractions describedabove. Moreover, in an effort to quickly change the method ofnotification, users may mistakenly choose an even louder or just asdistractive mode of notification and do not notice their mistake untilthe device goes off in the middle of the event, causing the sameembarrassments, interruptions and distractions referred to above. Theuser needs to manually invoke these alternative notification methodseach time s/he wants to change the method of notification. Anotherproblem arises because the mode of notification does not get switchedback to the “default” mode after the event is over. The user has toremember to turn notification back on to “default mode”. Many usersforget to turn notification back to the “default mode” and end upmissing important appointments, phone calls or voicemails. Further, theuser may turn off the device prior to the event, and may forget to turnthe device back on, causing notifications to be visible instead ofaudible. This may have consequences for users that are very dependant ontheir electronic devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object to provide a novel system, apparatus and method forchanging the behavior of an electronic device that obviates or mitigatesat least one of the above-identified disadvantages.

According to one aspect, there is provided a computing device comprisinga microcomputer that receives live communications and processes variousevents in the device. Whenever the live communication is received duringone of these events, the device makes a determination as to whether toaccept the live communication, reject the communication and/or direct itto a message application. This determination is made based on a set ofcriteria that can be associated with the event or that can be associatedwith a combination of the event and the live communication. Examples ofsuch criteria include time and duration of an event and/orcommunication, whether the event and/or communication include apredefined string or whether the communication is being originated froma predefined person or location.

The live communication can be any type of communication that is live andenables at least two people to communicate in real-time. Telephone callsand “instant text messages” such as those found in “chat” systems areexamples of live communications. Similarly the message application canconsist of any type of voice mail application or text messaging systemsuch as pagers or email and can be either internal or external to thedevice.

It is contemplated that the microprocessor be operable to execute thevoicemail application and the device include a storage device to storelive communications whenever live communications are directed to thevoice mail application. It is further contemplated that the criterionused to direct the live communication to the voice mail application bebased on at least one criterion that is associated with either the livecommunication and/or the event. The voice mail application can becapable of automatically accepting the incoming caller, playing aselected outgoing message and recording the incoming voice for apre-determined length of time. As a variation, different steps can betaken with the same effect of eliminating, or reducing, interruptions tothe user. For example after automatically accepting the call and playingthe out going message, the call could be re-routed to another device torecord the incoming voice. As a still further variation, afterauto-accepting the incoming caller and playing an outgoing message theuser is told they can leave a call back number using Dual Tone MultiFrequency (“DTMF”) tone sequences. This later case might be useful ifthe computing device is running out of memory and wants to conservememory.

It is also contemplated that the event can be an appointment in acalendar application or that it can be a task in a task application. Theelectronic device itself can be a cell phone, a smart telephone, adesktop computer or a laptop having telephony equipment and a personaldigital assistant with cell phone features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, withreference to the attached figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of an electronic device inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of certain internal components within thedevice in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the main menu screen displaying aplurality of applications including a calendar, a call-forwarding setupand a phone call manager;

FIG. 4 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the calendar applicationdisplaying a plurality of individual appointments for the date of Jan.31, 2000;

FIG. 5 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the call-forwarding setupapplication displaying a plurality of modes of operation;

FIG. 6 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the phone call managerapplication displaying an incoming phone call at 10:00 a.m. on Jan. 31,2000, as well as, a plurality of voice mail recordings;

FIG. 7 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the phone call managerapplication having received an incoming phone call at 10:30 a.m. on Jan.31, 2000;

FIG. 8 shows a flow chart depicting a method for changing the behaviorof an electronic device in accordance with another;

FIG. 9 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the calendar application, showingthat at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, the user of the device is at adepartmental meeting;

FIG. 10 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the phone call managerapplication recording a voice mail corresponding to the incoming phonecall in FIG. 7;

FIG. 11 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the phone call managerapplication having received an incoming phone call at 12:15 p.m. on Jan.31, 2000;

FIG. 12 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the calendar application,showing that at 12:15 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, the user of the device isin the middle of a dentist appointment;

FIG. 13 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the phone call managerapplication having received an incoming phone call at 1:15 p.m. on Jan.31, 2000;

FIG. 14 shows the device of FIG. 1 with the calendar application,showing that at 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, the user of the device doesnot have any appointments scheduled;

FIG. 15 is a schematic representation of an electronic device formodifying notifications in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of certain internal components within thedevice in FIG. 1;

FIG. 17 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the main menu screen displayinga plurality of applications including a calendar, a notification setup,a message reader and a daily alarm;

FIG. 18 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the calendar applicationdisplaying a plurality of individual appointments for the date of Jan.31, 2000;

FIG. 19 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the notification setupapplication displaying a plurality of default modes of notification;

FIG. 20 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the message reader applicationdisplaying a plurality of emails received;

FIG. 21 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the daily alarm applicationdisplaying a designated time and an ON/OFF setting for the alarm;

FIG. 22 shows a flow chart depicting a method for modifying notificationsettings in accordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 23 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the message reader applicationhaving received a new email at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2000;

FIG. 24 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the calendar application,showing that at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, the user of the device isin a departmental meeting;

FIG. 25 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the message reader applicationnotifying the receipt of the email in FIG. 23 by a flashing light fromthe LED indicator;

FIG. 26 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the message reader applicationreceiving a new email at 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000;

FIG. 27 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the calendar application,showing that at 12:30 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, the user of the device isin the middle of a dentist appointment;

FIG. 28 shows the device of FIG. 15 with message reader applicationnotifying the receipt of the email in FIG. 26 by producing a sound fromthe speaker;

FIG. 29 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the message reader applicationreceiving a new email at 2:00 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000;

FIG. 30 shows the device of FIG. 15 with the calendar application,showing that at 2:00 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, the user of the device doesnot have any appointments scheduled;

FIG. 31 is a schematic representation of another embodiment with thenotification setup application displaying a plurality of methods ofnotification;

FIG. 31 a shows the device of FIG. 31 with the calendar applicationdisplaying a plurality of individual appointments for the date of Jan.31, 2000;

FIG. 32 is a schematic representation of yet another embodiment with themain menu screen displaying a plurality of applications including anapplication called profile string matcher, as well as the calendar,notification setup, message reader and daily alarm applications;

FIG. 33 shows the device of FIG. 32, with the profile string matcherapplication displaying a plurality of strings, each associated with adifferent mode of notification;

FIG. 34 shows the device of FIG. 32, with the calendar applicationdisplaying a plurality of individual appointments for Feb. 1, 2000;

FIG. 35 shows a flow chart depicting a method for modifying notificationsettings in accordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 36 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the message reader applicationhaving received a new email at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2000;

FIG. 37 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the calendar application,showing that the description of the appointment at 4:30 p.m. includesthe word “meeting”;

FIG. 38 shows a flow chart depicting a set of substeps that can be usedto perform one of the steps shown in FIG. 35;

FIG. 39 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the profile string matcherapplication showing that the string “meeting” is associated with theprofile “Quiet”.

FIG. 40 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the message reader applicationhaving received a new email at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2000;

FIG. 41 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the calendar applicationshowing that at 6:30 p.m. the user is scheduled to have dinner withBill;

FIG. 42 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the message reader applicationhaving received a new email at 8:30 p.m.;

FIG. 43 shows the device of FIG. 32 with the calendar application havingno appointments scheduled at 8:30 p.m.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic device for modifying notifications,in accordance with an embodiment of the invention is indicated generallyat 20. In the present embodiment, electronic device 20 is based on thecomputing environment and functionality of an enhanced personal digitalassistant with cell phone features. It is, however, to be understoodthat electronic device 20 can be based on the construction andfunctionality of other electronic devices, such as smart telephones,desktop computers or laptops having telephony equipment. In a presentembodiment, electronic device 20 includes, a housing 24, which frames anLCD display 28, a speaker 36, an LED indicator 40, a trackwheel 44, anexit key 46 and key pad 48 and a telephone headset comprised of an earbud 49 and a microphone 50. Trackwheel 44 and exit key 46 can beinwardly depressed along the path of arrow “A” as a means to provideadditional user-input. It will be understood that housing 24, can bemade from any suitable material as will occur to those of skill in theart. Device 20 is operable to conduct wireless telephone calls, usingany known wireless phone system such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (“GSM”) system, Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”)system, Cellular Digital Packet Data (“CDPD”) system and Time DivisionMultiple Access (“TDMA”) system. Other wireless phone systems caninclude Bluetooth and the many forms of 802.11 wireless broadband, like802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, etc that can support voice. Other embodimentsinclude Voice Over IP (VoIP) type streaming data communications that cansimulate circuit switched phone calls. Ear bud 49 can be used to listento phone calls and other sound messages and microphone 50 can be used tospeak into and input sound messages to device 20.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of certain internal componentswithin device 20 are shown. Device 20 is based on a microcomputer thatincludes a processor 50 that is connected to a read-only-memory (“ROM”)54, which contains a plurality of applications executable by processor50 that enables device 20 to perform certain functions. Processor 50 isalso connected to a random access memory unit (“RAM”) 58 and apersistent storage device 60, which are responsible for variousnonvolatile storage functions of device 20. Processor 50 can send outputsignals to various output devices including display 28, speaker 36, LEDindicator 40, and ear bud 49, each of which generate specific outputs asinstructed by processor 50. Processor 50, can also receive input fromvarious input devices including trackwheel 44, exit key 46, keyboard 48,and microphone 50. Processor 50 is also connected to an internal clock61 and a modem and radio 62. Modem and radio 62 can be connected tovarious wireless networks through an antenna 64. As will be explainedfurther below, persistent storage device 60 is open to share incomingvoicemail message for device 20.

Device 20 is operable to execute various applications stored in ROM 54.Referring now to FIG. 3, device 20 is shown with a main menu screen 66,that displays a system clock 68 which is updated according to internalclock 61. Main menu screen 66 also displays a plurality of applicationsthat are executable on processor 50. In a present embodiment, suchdisplayed applications include a calendar 70, a C.F.S. 74 and a P.C.M.82. When executed on processor 50, these applications cause device 20 tooperate in various ways, as will be discussed further below. Trackwheel44 can be used to scroll through the applications and to select adesired application by pressing inwardly, along the path of arrow A, ontrackwheel 44. Exit key 46 can be used to exit any application bypressing inwardly, along the path of arrow A, on exit key 46.

Referring now to FIG. 4, device 20 is shown displaying the day'sschedule 100 for Jan. 31, 2000, using the application called calendar 70on display 28. Schedule 100 includes a plurality of individualappointments 104 and 112. As illustrated in FIG. 4, appointment 104 is adepartmental meeting, from 10:00-11:00 a.m., and appointment 112 is adentist appointment, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. Appointment 104 has a“no-telephone” icon 108 associated with it, while appointment 112 has atelephone icon 114 associated with it.

Referring now to FIG. 5, device 20 is shown displaying differentcall-handling options 110 using the application called C.F.S. 74 ondisplay 28, comprising an “Available (Ring)” mode 116 and an“Unavailable (Voice Mail)” mode 120. For this embodiment (Ring) mode 116is associated with telephone icon 114 and Unavailable (Voice Mail) mode120 is associated with “no-telephone” icon 108. As shown in FIG. 5,there is a “check-mark” 124 beside telephone icon 114, indicating thatthe default mode of operation of device 20 is Available (Ring) mode 116.This means that if device 20 was to receive an incoming phone call, thedefault mode of operation of device 20 would be to make the callavailable to the user by having the phone ring in the usual manner.Using trackwheel 44, check-mark 124 can be placed beside “no-telephone”icon 108, indicating that the default mode of operation is Unavailable(Voice Mail) mode 120. Once the default mode of operation is set toUnavailable (Voice Mail) mode 120, it would be assumed that the user ofdevice 20 is “unavailable” and, in the event of an incoming phone call,the device would go straight to voice mail.

Referring now to FIG. 6, device 20 is shown displaying (a representationof) an incoming phone call (“phone call”) 130 and (a representation of)a plurality of previously recorded voice mails (“voice mails”) 132,using the application called P.C.M. 82 on display 28. Phone call 130 isreceived through a wireless network (not shown), that connects to device20 via modem and radio 62 through antenna 64. P.C.M. 82 includes a voicemail function such that, if a phone call 130 goes unanswered, or ifC.F.S. 74 is set to Unavailable (“Voice Mail”), the caller is able toleave a voice mail and such that (the representation of) incoming phonecall 130 on screen 28 is recorded as a voice mail 132, that is recordedlocally on device 20 and saved on persistent storage device 60. (Aspreviously mentioned there can also be additional steps taken on theincoming caller, such as playing an outgoing message, or re-routing thecaller to an alternative voice recording device.) Phone call 130 has aseries of information associated with it, including, time of receipt 138and a description of the status of the call 142. Similarly, each voicemail recording 132 has a series of information associated with it,including time of recording 146 and the duration 150 of each voice mailin seconds. Trackwheel 44 can be used to scroll through individual voicemails 132 on device 20, and inwardly depress to get access to and listento each individual voice mail 132. Similarly, exit key 46 can beinwardly depressed to skip the unheard part of the recording and/or exitan individual voice mail 132. For example in FIG. 6, it is shown thatphone call 130 is being received by device 20 at 10:00 a.m., voice mail158 was recorded at 9:30 a.m. and is 30 seconds long and voice mail 162was recorded at 8:10 a.m. and is 20 seconds long. In FIG. 7, it is shownthat phone call 130 was unanswered, the caller left a message and phonecall 130 is now represented on the screen by a voicemail that is 25seconds long.

A method for modifying notifications will now be discussed withreference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 8 and is indicated generallyat 500. In order to assist in the explanation of method 500, referencewill be made to the foregoing discussion of device 20. In order tofurther assist in the explanation of method 500, the sequence of stepsin method 500 shall be followed in connection to a series of examplesusing device 20. In these examples, it will be assumed that device 20receives a series of phone calls at different times during the day.

As demonstrated in the flow chart in FIG. 8, a phone call is received bydevice 20 at step 550. In the case of the present example, and referringnow back to FIG. 7, it will be assumed that the phone call received isphone call 178. At step 555, the time of receipt 138 of the phone callis determined. Referring to FIG. 7, time of receipt 138 of phone call178, is determined to be 10:30 a.m. At this point, the method advancesto step 560 where it is determined whether time of receipt 138 is duringany of the appointments marked in calendar 70. If time of receipt 138 isduring one of such appointments, the method then advances to step 580.However, if time of receipt 138 is not during any of these times, themethod advances to step 570. In connection with phone call 178, andreferring now to FIG. 9, it is determined that time of receipt 138 isduring appointment 104 and the method, advances to step 580. At step580, it is determined whether the appointment, with which time ofreceipt 138 is associated, is designated as Available (Ring) 116 orUnavailable (Voice Mail) 120. If the appointment, with which time ofreceipt 138 is associated, has telephone icon 114 associated with it,then the method proceeds to step 595 and device 20 rings to notify theuser of the incoming phone call. If however, the appointment with whichtime of receipt 138 is associated with has “no-telephone” icon 108associated with it, then the method proceeds to step 590 and the phonecall is directly routed to voice mail. In the case of phone call 178,since appointment 104 is associated with “no-telephone” icon 108,referring now to FIG. 10, the method advances to step 590 and the phonecall is directly routed to voice mail. At this point method 500 ends.

To further illustrate method 500, an additional example is helpfil. Letus assume that device 20 receives another phone call 182 at 12:15 p.m.,as shown in FIG. 11. Following the steps of method 500 outlined above,at step 555, time of receipt 138 is determined to be 12:15 p.m. At step560, and referring now to FIG. 12, it would be determined that time ofreceipt 138 is during appointment 112 and hence the method proceeds tostep 580. At step 580, and still referring to FIG. 12, it will bedetermined that appointment 112 is associated with telephone icon 114.Hence the method proceeds to step 595, and device 20 rings to notify theuser of the incoming phone call.

To help even further in illustrating method 500, it will be assumed thatdevice 20 receives yet another phone call 186 at 1:15 p.m., as shown inFIG. 13. As demonstrated in the flow chart in FIG. 8, the incoming callis received by device 20 at step 550. At step 555, the time of receipt138 of the information is determined. Referring now to FIG. 13, time ofreceipt 138 of phone call 186, is determined to be 1:15 p.m. At thispoint, method 500 advances to step 560 where it is determined whethertime of receipt 138 is during any of appointments marked in calendar 70.If time of receipt 138 is during one of such appointments, the methodthen advances to step 580. If, however, time of receipt 138 is notduring any of these times, the method advances to step 570. Inconnection with phone call 186, and referring now to FIG. 14, it isdetermined that time of receipt 138 is not during any of theappointments in calendar 70 and the method advances to step 570. At step570, the default mode of operation in C.F.S. 74 is determined. If themode of notification is set to Available (Ring) mode 116, the methodwould proceed to step 595 and device 20 would ring to notify the user ofthe incoming phone call. If, on the other hand, the mode of notificationwas set to Unavailable (Voice Mail) mode 120, the method would proceedto step 590 and the phone call is directly routed to voice mail. For thepurposes of the example with phone call 186, it is assumed that C.F.S.74 is configured as shown in FIG. 5. Referring back to FIG. 5, becausecheckmark 124 is associated with telephone icon 114, the default mode ofnotification is Available (Ring). The method, thus, proceeds to step 595and device 20 rings to notify the user of the incoming phone call.

While the teachings herein are directed to specific embodiments, it willbe understood that subsets, combinations and variations of theembodiments are within the scope of the invention. For example, thevoice mail function can be either internal and part of the device, or itcan be external and provided by a service provider. Furthermore, it isto be understood that an incoming phone call is merely an example of thetype of communication. Other examples include live electronic textcommunications (i.e. “instant text messages”), such as “chat” servicesor any other type of communication that is live and enables at least twopeople to communicate in real-time. Those skilled in the art willunderstand that a chat system is any system that allows any number ofusers have a typed, real-time, on-line conversation, either by all userslogging into the same computer, or more commonly, via a network.“Internet Relay Chat” (“IRC”), “ICQ” and “Palace” are examples of wellknown chat systems. Additional incoming events can include videoconferencing, voice-over-IP (VoIP) communication, push-based web pagedownload and push-to-talk applications. In an alternative embodiment, anincoming push-to-talk interruption is handled by attempting to waituntil the push-to-talk floor is available and automatically takingcontrol of the floor and playing an outgoing message indicating the useris busy.

Similarly, the forwarding of communications to voice mail is just anexample of the type of response that a caller can receive. Voice mailcan be replaced by any type of message application or any type ofcommunication to the caller in real time. For example, a caller can beprompted to leave a text-based message, DTMF tones or email, instead of,or in addition to, a voice message. As additional example, a personstarting a chat can receive a message that the person being contacted isunavailable and the person starting the chat can be prompted to leave atext-based message, voicemail or a combination thereof. In general,where a first user at a first computer attempts to initiate a chat witha second user at a second computer, the second computer can include amodified version of method 500, wherein the first user will either beprompted to leave a message, or be allowed to start the chat session,depending on any event, such as an appointment event in a calendarapplication or a task event in a task manager application. Those skilledin the art will appreciate that the task manager application in manydevices has various status settings, which can consist of “not started”,“in progress”, “deferred” and “completed”. Accordingly the statussetting of a task can function as a criterion which determines whetheran incoming call gets directed to voice mail. For example, every timethere is a task that is “in progress” the user may be deemed busy andincoming calls can be routed directly to voice mail.

It is also contemplated that in circumstances where the user isavailable and ready to receive the in-coming communication, devicebehavior is not limited to ringing and can include a variety of audible,inaudible or mechanical modes of notification, such as various sounds,tunes, flashings of light or vibrational modes and/or combinationsthereof, which are familiar to those skilled in the art.

It is further contemplated that the modes of operation are not limitedto “available” and “unavailable” and include a variety of modes ofoperation that can be programmed into the device by either themanufacturer or the user. Examples of modes of operation include (1)“available but forward to voice mail after two rings”, (2) “unavailable(i.e. forward to voice mail) but vibrate twice to notify the user of theincoming communication” or (3) “unavailable but ring once after theevent is over to remind the user to check messages”. The device can ringone way if a communication is forwarded to voice mail and no message isleft and another way if there is a message.

It is further contemplated that different modes of operation can beselected manually in association with each appointment, and as such thatmode of operation can be considered a criterion of that appointment. Itis also contemplated that modes of operation be selected automaticallybased on a variety of criteria associated with each event and/orincoming communication. For example one such criterion can be thepresence or absence of certain predefined words in each event. Anotherexample of multiple complex criteria can be the timing of thecommunication and/or the person the communication originates from.Accordingly the device could be configured to, for example, direct allincoming calls to an answering machine if the call is received duringany appointments containing the word “meeting”, except to override thisstring and ring the phone and make the call available if the call isfrom the user's spouse or if the call is received 2 minutes before theend of the meeting. In general, a device can be configured to have modesof operation that are as simple or as complex as desired.

It is also to be understood that types of information stored inassociation with the applications stored in the ROM of the electronicdevice, and the way in which such information is displayed on the deviceis not particularly limited. For example, Table A shows an alternativeway of displaying the information in phone call manager 82.

TABLE A Example format for displaying information in Phone Call ManagerField 1 Entry Field 2 Field 3 Field 4 Field 5 Number Date/Time TypePhone Number Status/Duration 1 2000-01-01 Voice Mail 555-333-2354 Inprogress at 10:30 AM 2 2000-01-01 Accepted 555-555-1445 25 Seconds at10:00 AM 3 2000-01-01 Placed Call 555-491-4433 30 Seconds at 9:30 AM 42000-01-01 Placed Call 555-371-2354 20 Seconds at 8:30 AM

As can be seen by examining Table A, Field 1, “Entry Number” identifiesa number associated with a particular telephone call handled by PhoneCall Manager. By the same token, Field 2 “Date/Time” identifies the dateand time of a particular telephone call. All of the telephone calls inTable A occurred on Jan. 1, 2001, at the respective times indicated ineach row. Field 3, “Type” indicates the type of call. More specifically,where “Type” is identified as “Voicemail”, then that particulartelephone call will have been an incoming call routed to voicemail.Where “Type” is identified as “Accepted”, then that particular telephonecall will have been an incoming call that was accepted as a voice call.Where “Type” is identified as “Placed Call”, then that particulartelephone call will have been an outbound telephone call. Field 4,“Phone Number”, indicates the phone number associated with thatparticular call. Field 5, “Status/Duration” indicates whether the callis actually “in-progress”, or, where the call is in the past, theduration of the call will be indicated in terms of the length of time ofthe call. It should now be apparent that other information can also beincluded in Table A.

Referring to FIG. 15, an electronic device for modifying notifications,in accordance with an embodiment is indicated generally at 20AA. Thefunctionality described below in relation to device 20AA (and itsvariants) can be combined with the functionality discussed above inrelation to device 20 (and its variants). In this embodiment, electronicdevice 20AA, is based on the computing environment and functionality ofa wireless personal digital assistant. It is, however, to be understoodthat electronic device 20AA can include the construction andfunctionality of other electronic devices, such as desktop computers,cell phones, smart telephones, and laptops with wireless 802.11 orbluebook chip sets and the like. In one embodiment, electronic device20AA includes, a housing 24AA, which frames an LCD display 28AA, aspeaker 36AA, an LED indicator 40AA, a trackwheel 44AA, an exit key 46AAand key pad 48AA. Trackwheel 44AA and exit key 46AA can be inwardlydepressed along the path of arrow “A” as a means to provide additionaluser-input. It will be understood that housing 24AA, can be made fromany suitable material as will occur to those of skill in the art.

Referring now to FIG. 16, a block diagram of certain internal componentswithin device 20AA are shown. Device 20AA is based on a microcomputerthat includes a processor 50AA that is connected to a read-only-memory(“ROM”) 54AA, which contains a plurality of applications executable byprocessor 50AA that enables device 20AA to perform certain functions.Processor 50AA is also connected to a random access memory unit (“RAM”)58AA and a persistent storage 60AA which are responsible for variousnonvolatile storage functions of device 20AA. Processor 50AA can sendoutput signals to various output devices including display 28AA, speaker36AA, LED indicator 40AA, each of which generate specific outputs asinstructed by processor 50AA. Processor 50AA, can also receive inputfrom various input devices including trackwheel 44AA, exit key 46AA andkeyboard 48AA. Processor 50AA is also connected to an internal clock61AA and a modem and radio 62AA (not shown). Modem and radio 62AA can beconnected to various wireless networks through an antenna 64AA.

Device 20AA is operable to execute various applications stored in ROM54AA. Referring now to FIG. 3, device 20AA is shown with a main menuscreen 66AA, that displays a system clock 68AA which is updatedaccording to internal clock 61AA. Main menu screen 66AA also displays aplurality of applications that are executable on processor 50AA. In oneembodiment, such displayed applications include a calendar 70AA, anotification setup 74AA, a message reader 82AA, a daily alarm 86AA. Whenexecuted on processor 50AA, these applications cause device 20AA tooperate in various ways, as will be discussed further below. Trackwheel44AA can be used to scroll through the applications and to select adesired application by pressing inwardly, along the path of arrow A, ontrackwheel 44AA. Exit key 46AA can be used to exit any application bypressing inwardly, along the path of arrow A, on exit key 46AA.

Referring now to FIG. 18, device 20AA is shown displaying the day'sschedule 100AA for Jan. 31, 2000 using the application called calendar70AA on display 28AA. Schedule 100AA includes a plurality of individualappointments 104AA and 112AA. As illustrated in FIG. 18, appointment104AA is a departmental meeting, from 10:00-11:00 a.m., and appointment112AA is a dentist appointment, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. Appointment 104AAhas a “no-speaker” icon 108AA associated with it, while appointment112AA has a speaker icon 114AA associated with it. Speaker icon 114AAand “no-speaker” icon 108AA will be discussed in greater detail below.Calendar 70AA also displays a clock 68AA that shows the current date andtime according to internal clock 61AA maintained in device 20AA.

Referring now to FIG. 19, device 20AA is shown displaying the defaultmodes of notification 110AA using the application called notificationsetup 74AA on display 28AA, comprising an audible mode 116AA and aninaudible mode 120AA. Audible mode 116AA is also associated with speakericon 114AA and inaudible mode 120AA is also associated with “no-speaker”icon 108AA. As shown in FIG. 19, there is a “check-mark” 124AA besidespeaker icon 114AA, indicating that the default mode of notification forthe present example is audible mode 116AA. Using trackwheel 44AA,check-mark 124AA can also be placed beside “no-speaker” icon 108AA,indicating that the default mode of notification is inaudible mode120AA.

Referring now to FIG. 20, device 20AA is shown displaying a plurality ofemails 130AA using the application called message reader 82AA on display28AA. Emails 130AA are received through a wireless network (not shown),that connects to device 20AA via modem and radio 62AA through antenna64AA. Emails 130AA have a series of information association with them,including, date of receipt 134AA, time of receipt 138AA, name of sender142AA, subject line 146AA, and an envelope icon 150AA, that can beeither opened or closed, indicating whether the email has been opened.Each email 130AA can also have an exclamation mark 154AA associated withit, indicating that the message is marked urgent by the sender.Trackwheel 44AA can be used to scroll through individual emails 130AA,and inwardly depressed to open each individual email 130AA. Exit key46AA can be inwardly depressed to exit each individual email. Forexample in FIG. 20, it is shown that email 158AA sent by Murphy Brown,at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2000, is not marked urgent, has P the subjectline: “Re.: Meeting” and has not been opened. Similarly, email 162AAsent by Jason Peterson at 8:10 a.m., is marked urgent, has the subjectline: “New File” and has not been opened. Message reader 82AA alsoincludes clock 68AA, which functions as previously described in relationto calendar 70AA.

Referring now to FIG. 21, device 20AA is shown displaying a designated“Time” 170AA and an “ON/OFF” setting 174AA using the application calleddaily alarm 86AA in display 28AA. As seen in FIG. 21, “Time” 170AA isassociated with a specific time of the day and “ON/OFF” setting 174AAcan be either on or off. Accordingly, at 9:00 a.m. each day, an alarmwill be generated by device 20AA as shown in FIG. 21. The operation ofalarm 86AA will be discussed further in detail below.

A method for modifying notifications in accordance with anotherembodiment will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart shownin FIG. 22AA and is indicated generally at 500AA. In order to assist inthe explanation of method 500AA, reference will be made to the foregoingdiscussion of device 20AA. In order to further assist in the explanationof method 500AA, the sequence of steps in method 500AA shall be followedin connection to a series of examples using device 20AA. In theseexamples, it will be assumed that device 20AA receives a series ofemails at different times during the day.

As demonstrated in the flow chart in FIG. 22, information is received bydevice 20AA at step 550AA. In the case of the present example, andreferring now to FIG. 23, it is to be assumed that the informationreceived is an email and that the email received by device 20AA at thisstep is email 178AA. Email 178AA from David Smith, is received at 10:30a.m. on Jan. 31, 2000 and is not marked urgent. At step 555AA, the timeof receipt 138AA of the information is determined. Referring to FIG. 23,time of receipt 138AA of email 178AA, is determined to be 10:30 a.m. Atthis point, the method advances to step 560AA where it is determinedwhether time of receipt 138AA is during any of appointments marked incalendar 70AA. If time of receipt 138AA is during one of suchappointments, the method then advances to step 580AA. However, if timeof receipt 138AA is not during any of these times, the method advancesto step 570AA. In connection with email 178AA, and referring now to FIG.24, it is determined that time of receipt 138AA is during appointment104AA and the method, advances to step 580AA. At step 580AA, it isdetermined whether the appointment with which time of receipt 138AA isassociated is designated as audible or inaudible. If the appointmentwith which time of receipt 138AA is associated with has speaker icon114AA associated with it, then the method proceeds to step 590AA and anaudible sound will emanate from speaker 36AA. If however, theappointment with which time of receipt 138AA is associated with has“no-speaker” icon 108AA associated with it, then the method proceeds tostep 595AA and a flashing light 180AA will emanate from LED indicator40AA. In the case of email 178AA, since appointment 104AA is associatedwith “no-speaker” icon 108AA, the method advances to step 595AA andreferring now to FIG. 25, flashing light 180AA will emanate from LEDindicator 40AA. At this point method 500AA ends. There may be a varietyof ways to cancel the output from LED indicator 40AA by, for example,using exit key 46AA and pressing inward on exit key 46AA along arrow A.

To further illustrate method 500AA, an additional example is helpful.Let us assume that device 20AA receives another email 182AA at 12:30p.m., as shown in FIG. 26AA. Following the steps of method 500AAoutlined above, at step 555AA, time of receipt 138AA is determined to be12:30 p.m. At step 560AA, and referring now to FIG. 27, it would bedetermined that time of receipt 138AA is during appointment 112AA andhence method 500AA proceeds to step 580AA. At step 580AA, and stillreferring to FIG. 27, it will be determined that appointment 112AA isassociated with speaker icon 114AA. Hence the method proceeds to step590AA, and as illustrated in FIG. 28, a sound 184AA emanates fromspeaker 36AA. Method 500AA ends. Similar to the example above, there maybe a variety of ways to cancel the output from speaker 36AA by, forexample, using exit key 46AA and pressing inward on exit key 46AA alongarrow A.

To help even further in illustrating method 500AA, it will be assumedthat device 20AA receives yet another email 186AA at 2:00 p.m., as shownin FIG. 29. As demonstrated in the flow chart in FIG. 22, information isreceived by device 20AA at step 550AA. In the case of the presentexample, and referring now to FIG. 29, the information received is email186AA. At step 555AA, the time of receipt 138AA of the information isdetermined. Referring now to FIG. 29, time of receipt 138AA of email186AA, is determined to be 2:00 p.m. At this point, method 500AAadvances to step 560AA where it is determined whether time of receipt138AA is during any of appointments marked in calendar 70AA. If time ofreceipt 138AA is during one of such appointments, the method thenadvances to step 580AA. If, however, time of receipt 138AA is not duringany of these times, the method advances to step 570AA. In connectionwith email 186AA, and referring now to FIG. 30, it is determined thattime of receipt 138AA is not during any of the appointments in calendar70AA and the method advances to step 570AA. At step 570AA, the defaultnotification in notification setup 74AA is determined. If the mode ofnotification is set to audible mode 116AA, the method would proceed tostep 590AA and sound 184AA would emanate from speaker 36AA. If, on theother hand, the mode of notification was set to inaudible mode 120AA,the method would proceed to step 595AA and flashing light 180AA wouldemanate from LED indicator 40AA. For the purposes of the example withemail 186AA, it is assumed that notification setup 74AA is configured asshown in FIG. 19. Referring back to FIG. 19, because checkmark 124AA isassociated with audible mode 116AA the default mode of notification isaudible. The method, thus, proceeds to step 590AA and sound 184AAemanates from speaker 36AA.

Although, in the above examples, the information received at step 550AAof method 500AA were incoming emails 178AA, 182AA and 186AA, it will beunderstood that information received at step 550AA could be any type ofinformation including an alarm from daily alarm 86AA. If for example,“Time” 170AA was set to a time during appointment 104AA, light 180ASAwould emanate from LED indicator 40AA. Similarly if, “Time” 170AA wasset to a time during appointment 112AA, sound 184AA would emanate fromspeaker 36AA and if, “Time” 170AA was set to a time outside of eitherappointments 104AA or 112AA, sound 184AA would emanate from speaker36AA.

Referring now to FIG. 31, an electronic device for modifyingnotifications in accordance with another embodiment is indicatedgenerally at 20AAa. Device 20AAa is substantially the same as device20AA and like elements of device 20AAa bear the same referencecharacters, but followed by the suffix “a”. Device 20AAa is shown inFIG. 31 displaying different notification profiles 110A a using theapplication called notification setup 74AAa. However, unlikenotification setup 74AA where the only choices for notification wereaudible and inaudible, notification setup 74AAa, allows users tocustomize their methods of notification. Notification setup 74AAacomprises a plurality of notification profiles 110AAa, which in thepresent embodiment have been labeled Quiet 200AA, Discreet 204AA, andLoud 212AA. Each of these profiles 110AAa can be customized by themanufacturer or by the user according to user preference. Profiles110AAa can also be deleted and additional profiles can be added asdesired. Table I shows how each profile 110AAa can be customized.

TABLE I An Example of Customizing Methods of Notification Mode ofNotification (Profiles 110AAa) Application Notification Behavior QuietMessage Reader Type: Inaudible 200AA Tune: None Volume: Mute Daily AlarmType: Audible Tune: Ring 2 Volume: Low Discreet Message Reader Type:Audible & 204AA Inaudible Tune: Ring 3 Volume: Medium Daily Alarm Type:Audible Tune: Ring 1 Volume: Low Loud Message Reader Type: Audible 212AATune: Ring 5 Volume: High Daily Alarm Type: Audible Tune: Ring 6 Volume:High

Referring now to FIG. 31, checkmark 124AAa, located beside the profileDiscreet 204AA, indicates that the default mode of notification for thepresent example is Discreet 204AA. Trackwheel 44AAa can be used toscroll through the different profiles 110AAa and to select a particularprofile 110AAa. Notification setup 24AAa can also be used to customizeeach profile 110AAa.

As illustrated in Table I, each profile can give rise to a differentnotification output for various applications on device 20AAa, andnotification behavior can be customized according to a variety ofcriteria, such as “type”, “tune” and “volume”. “Type” can be eitheraudible or inaudible. Audible means a sound emanating from speaker 36AAaand inaudible means a light flashing from LED indicator 40AAa. “Tune”can be any tune chosen by the manufacturer or the user and programmedinto device 20AAa. This is the tune that would be played by speaker36AAa when “type” is set to audible. “Volume” determines the volume ofthe tune and in the present embodiment can be low, medium or high.

In operation, during appointment 104AAa, the profile Quiet 200AA wouldbe in effect. Referring now to FIG. 31 a, the application calendar 70AAahas a series of appointments 100AAa. Appointment 104AAa is associatedwith the profile Quiet 200AA, and appointment 112AAa is associated withthe profile Loud 212AA. It should now be apparent that whereas in device20AA, each calendar appointment 100AA had either a “speaker icon” 108AAor a “no-speaker icon” 114AA associated with it, in device 20AAa, eachappointment, can have a particular profile 110AAa associated with it,instead. This is illustrated in FIG. 31 a, where appointment 104AAa isassociated with the profile Quiet 200AA and appointment 112AAa isassociated with the profile Loud 212AA.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that Table I is just oneexample of the way in which notifications can be customized.Furthermore, the specific types, tunes and volumes outlined in Table Iare not particularly limited. Also the list of specific applicationsassociated with each mode is not particularly limited and can match thecomplete set of applications on device 20AAa.

As seen in Table I, if message reader 82AAa was to receive an emailduring appointment 104AAa which is associated with the profile Quiet,the output notification would be inaudible, with no tune or volume andlight would emanate from LED indicator 40AAa. Similarly, if daily alarm86AAa was to go off during appointment 104AAa, the output notificationwould be a low volume sound corresponding to a tune called “ring 2”,emanating from speaker 36AAa.

In another embodiment, and referring now to FIG. 32, an electronicdevice for modifying notifications in accordance with another embodimentis indicated generally at 20AAb. Device 20AAb is substantially the sameas device 20AAa and like elements of device 20AAa and device 20AAb willbear the same reference characters, but followed by the suffix “b”instead of suffix “a”. In FIG. 32, device 20AAb is shown with a mainmenu screen 66AAb, displaying an application called profile stringmatcher 230AA, as well as calendar 70AAb, notification setup 74AAb,message reader 82AAb and daily alarm 86AAb.

Referring now to FIG. 33, device 20AAb is shown displaying a list ofstrings 234AA, associated with a different notification profile 110AAb,using the application called profile string matcher 230AA. List 234AAcontains a plurality of individual strings 238AA, 242AA and 250AA, eachassociated with a notification profile 110AAb. As illustrated in FIG. 33string 238AA is the word “meeting” and is associated with the profile“Quiet” 200AAb. String 242AA is the word “movie” and is associated withthe profile “Discreet” 204AAb. Finally string 250AA is the word “home”and is associated with the profile “Loud” 212AAb.

Referring now to FIG. 34, device 20AAb is shown displaying the day'sschedule 100AAb for Feb. 1, 2000 using the application called calendar70AAb on display 28AAb. Schedule 100AAb includes a plurality ofindividual appointments 260AA and 264AA. As illustrated in FIG. 34,appointment 260AA is “weekly meeting”, from 4:00-5:00 p.m., andappointment 264AA is “dinner with Bill”, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Calendar70AAb also displays a clock 68AAb that shows the current date and time.

A method for modifying notifications in accordance with anotherembodiment will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart shownin FIG. 35 and is indicated generally at 500AAb. In order to assist inthe explanation of method 500AAb, reference will be made to theforegoing discussion of device 20AAb. In order to further assist in theexplanation of method 500AAb, the sequence of steps in method 500AAbshall be followed in connection to a series of examples using device20AAb. In these examples, it will be assumed that device 20AAb receivesa series of emails at different times during the day.

As demonstrated in the flow chart in FIG. 35, emails are received bydevice 20AAb at step 550AAb. In one example, and referring now to FIG.36, it is to be assumed that one of the emails received by device 20AAais email 278AA, Email 278AA is sent by Andrea Lee at 4:30 p.m. on Feb.1, 2000 and is not marked urgent. At step 555AAb, the time of receipt138AAb of the information is determined. Referring now to FIG. 36, timeof receipt 138AAb of email 278AA is determined to be 4:30 p.m. At thispoint, the method advances to step 560AAb where it is determined whethertime of receipt 138AAb is during any of the appointments marked incalendar 70AAb. If time of receipt 138AAb is during one of suchappointments, the method then advances to step 580AAb. However, if timeof receipt 138AAb is not during any of these appointments, the methodadvances to step 570AAb. In connection with email 278AA, and referringnow to FIG. 37, it is determined that time of receipt 138AAb is duringappointment 260AA. The method, thus, advances to step 580AAb. At step580AAb, the mode of notification according to a profile selected fromnotification setup 74AAb is determined.

Step 580AAb “select output according to profile associated withappointment” of method 500AAb can be performed in a variety of ways, oneexample of which is demonstrated in a number of sub-steps in FIG. 38. Atstep 581AAb, it is determined whether the appointment, with which timeof receipt 138AAb is associated, includes any of the strings on list234AA of profile string matcher 230AA, outlined in FIG. 19. If thedescription of the appointment includes one of the strings on list234AA, the method advances to step 582AAb, where the type ofnotification corresponding to the matched string is determined. If, onthe other hand, the description of the appointment does not include oneof the strings on list 234AA, the method advanced to step 570AAb, wherethe mode of notification is defined according to the default mode ofnotification per notification setup 74AAb.

Referring now back to FIG. 37, at step 581AAb, it is determined that thedescription of appointment 260AA includes one of the strings on list234AA. The method then advances to step 582AAb where “weekly meeting”contains the word “meeting”, which matches string 238AA. The method thenadvances to step 584AAb where, referring now to FIG. 39, it isdetermined that the notification profile associated with string 238AA isthe profile Quiet 200AAb. Once the notification profile is determined,the method then advances to step 585AAb where notification behavior isdetermined. For the purposes of this example, it is assumed that themodes of notification in this embodiment have been defined in accordancewith Table I. In the case of the profile Quiet 200AAb, when there is anemail received by message reader 82AAb, the notification is described asinaudible, with no tune or volume. Accordingly, at step 590AAb lightemanates from LED indicator 40, indicating the receipt of email 278AA.Method 500AAb then ends.

Method 500AAb will thus operate according to the receipt of differentemails and during different appointments. For example, and referring nowto FIGS. 40 and 41, it will be assumed that device 20AAb receives email286AA at 6:30 pm, which is during appointment 264AA. Since appointment264AA does not contain any of the strings on list 234AA, then during theperformance of method 500AAb the method will advance to step 570AAb anddevice 20AAb will rely on the default notification profile establishedaccording to notification setup 74AAb. Assuming that notification setup74AAb is similar to notification setup 74AAa and is set to the profileDiscreet 204AA as illustrated in FIG. 31, the method advances to step590AAb where device 20AAb generates output according to specificationsof the profile Discreet 204AA in Table I and results in a flashing oflight from LED indicator 40AA and a medium volume sound corresponding toa tune called “ring 3” from speaker 36AA.

To further illustrate, and referring now to FIGS. 42 and 43, it isassumed that device 20AAb receives yet another email 290AA at 8:30 p.m.,which is not during any of the appointments in schedule 100AAb. By nowit should be apparent to the reader that, devise 20AAb would go througheach of steps 550AAb to 560AAb of method 500AAb to determine that timeof receipt 8:30 is not during any of the appointments in calendar 70AAb.The method would then advance to step 570AA where output is selectedaccording to the profile selected in notification setup 74AAb. Assumingas we did before that notification setup 74AAb is similar to and is setup as in notification setup 74AAa, the receipt of email 290AA results ina flashing of light from LED indicator 40AA and a medium volume soundcorresponding to a tune called “ring 3” from speaker 36AA.

In general it should now be apparent that instead of a user specificallyhaving to configure a different notification for every individualappointment or for every criteria within that individual appointment,rules can be established by a user, or the manufacturer of the device,such that the device recognizes certain keywords or strings within thedescription of the individual appointment, and/or within the descriptionof information received by the device and signals a particular method ofnotification. For example the electronic device can be configured to besilent during all appointments that contain the word “business meeting”or “movies” and to signal/beep quietly when the appointment is over. Atthe same time, it could, also, be configured to vibrate if theinformation received is an email or voicemail marked urgent within anyappointments which contain the words “business meeting” or “movies” inthe description of the appointment.

While the teachings herein are directed to specific embodiments, it willbe understood that subsets and variations of the embodiments are withinthe scope of the invention. For example, it is to be understood that thereceiving of emails is merely an example of an application that cangenerate a notification. Other examples of information that can bereceived by a device include, telephone calls, faxes, voice-mailmessages, notification of appointments, daily alarm notifications,warning messages from the device in connection to its operation, such as“low battery” messages, or any other set of information for which anotification may be of use.

It is also contemplated that notifications can consist of a variety ofaudible, inaudible, vibrating and combinations of audible, inaudible andvibrating modes of notification. Audible modes of notification caninclude software sounds with a plurality of different frequencies andpitch. They can consist of different melodies and songs or they can beconnected to the radio amongst many other possibilities. Similarlyinaudible modes of notification include a variety of possibilities, suchas a plurality of vibrations with varying intensities, plurality ofcolors of flashing and non-flashing lights and pop-up screens on thedisplays of computers, cell phones, personal digital assistants and etc.The different modes of notification, or combinations thereof can bepredefined by the manufacturer of the electronic device or arbitrarilyselected and added on by the user.

It is also contemplated that an electronic device can be configured touse different modes of notification depending on a variety of criteria.For example an electronic device can be configured to have one mode ofnotification if emails are received during a particular calendar eventand a second mode of notification if the alarm goes off or a voice mailis received during the same calendar event. An electronic device couldbe further configured to have a different mode of notification if theemail or voicemail is marked urgent or if the voice mail is from acertain person or area code. An electronic device could be configured tosimply shut off all modes of notification during certain appointmentsand/or it could be configured to notify the user of receiving theinformation after the appointment is over. In general, an electronicdevice could be configured to have different modes of notification fordifferent calendar events and even within each calendar event, theelectronic device can be configured to have different modes ofnotification based on a plurality of other criteria, such as the type ofinformation received, when and during which calendar event theinformation was received, by whom the information was received, whetherthe information was marked urgent or whether the information wasreceived with certain other attributes.

In general, it is contemplated that rules can be established based onany type of information related to an individual appointment orinformation received by the device. For example, the electronic devicecan be configured to vibrate softly during all appointments between 6:00p.m. to 10:00 p.m. and to be silent regardless of what type ofinformation is received between 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., unless theinformation is a long distant phone call from a predefined person, inwhich case the device could ring loudly.

It is also contemplated that the device could change its method ofnotification based on the physical orientation of the device, such aswhether it has a clamp shell that is opened or closed or whether it isbeing placed on a user's belt or on a device crib. For example, a devicecould be configured to vibrate softly if the device is out of the cradleand to have the LED indicator flashing when the device is in the cradle.

1. An electronic device for receiving live communications comprising: amicrocomputer configured to execute an application for scheduling acalendar event; said calendar event having a notification profileassociated therewith; said microcomputer further configured to processsaid notification profile to determine whether to accept a livecommunication during said scheduled calendar event; said microcomputerfurther arranged to execute a separate notification profile settingsapplication to enable a user to associate with said calendar event anotification criterion; said notification criterion including a stringof text that is established by a user; said notification criterionindicative of said notification profile associated with said calendarevent; said notification profile being defined within said separatenotification profile settings application; such that said notificationprofile is selected by said microcomputer based on said string of textappearing in said calendar event.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein ifsaid live communication is not accepted during said scheduled calendarevent then said communication is directed to a message application. 3.The device of claim 2 wherein said message application is a voicemailapplication.
 4. The device of claim 1 wherein said live communication isselected from the group consisting of a voice telephone call, an instantmessage service message, and a push-to-talk call.
 5. The device of claim1 wherein said notification profile for said scheduled calendar event isadditionally based on at least one criterion that is associated withsaid live communication.
 6. An electronic device of claim 1 wherein saiddevice is selected from the group consisting of a cell phone, a smarttelephone, a desktop computer or a laptop having telephony equipment, apersonal digital assistant with cell phone features, and a personaldigital assistant with wireless broadband communications.
 7. Anelectronic device for receiving live communications comprising: amicrocomputer configured to execute all application for scheduling acalendar event; said calendar event having a notification profileassociated therewith; said microcomputer further configured toprocessing said notification profile to determine whether to accept alive communication during said scheduled calendar event; saidmicrocomputer further arranged to execute a separate notificationprofile settings application to enable a user to associate with saidcalendar event a notification criterion; said notification criterionindicative of said notification profile associated with said calendarevent; said notification profile being defined within said separatenotification profile settings application; wherein if said livecommunication is not accepted during said scheduled calendar event thensaid communication is directed to a message application; wherein saidmicrocomputer is operable to execute said voicemail application and saidelectronic device includes a storage device for storing saidcommunication when said communication is directed to said voicemailapplication.
 8. A method for modifying behaviour of an electronic devicefor receiving live communications comprising: executing an applicationin said device to schedule a calendar event; associating a notificationprofile with said scheduled calendar event; upon receipt of a livecommunication, processing the notification profile to determine whetherto accept said live communication during said scheduled calendar event;executing a separate notification profile settings application in saiddevice so as to associate a notification criterion with said scheduledcalendar event, said notification criterion being indicative of saidnotification profile associated with said scheduled calendar event, saidnotification criterion including a string of text that is established bya user; said notification profile being defined within the separatenotification profile settings application; wherein said notificationprofile is selected based on said string of text appearing in saidcalendar event.
 9. The method of claim 8, including executing theseparate notification profile settings application so as to select assaid notification criterion for the scheduled calendar event one of aplurality of notification criteria, said plurality of criteria beingindicative of different, respective notification profiles.
 10. Themethod of claim 8 wherein said live communication is any of a telephonecall, an instant message service message or an email.
 11. The method ofclaim 8 comprising: determining in a messaging application a time ofreceipt of said live communication; determining in a calendarapplication whether said time of receipt is during the scheduledcalendar event; if said time of receipt is during said calendar event,then examining said calendar event for the criterion indicative of thenotification profile for indicating how said communication is to berouted, and instructing said messaging application to route saidcommunication to a message service if said calendar event notificationprofile designates routing to said message service or instructing saidmessaging application to accept said communication as a livecommunication if said calendar event so designates.
 12. The method ofclaim 8 comprising: if said time of receipt is not during a calendarevent then examining said notification profile settings application todetermine how said communication is to be routed, and from said profilesettings application, instructing a messaging application to route saidcommunication to a message service if said profile settings applicationdesignates routing to said message application or instructing saidmessaging application to accept said communication as a livecommunication if said profile settings application so designates. 13.The method of claim 8 wherein if said live communication is not acceptedthen said communication is directed to a message application.
 14. Themethod of claim 13 wherein said message application is a voicemailapplication.
 15. The method of claim 13 wherein said notificationprofile for said scheduled calendar event is additionally determinedfrom a criterion that is associated with said live communication.
 16. Acomputer readable medium containing a plurality of programminginstructions for an electronic device for receiving live communications;said programming instructions implementing a method for modifyingbehaviour of said electronic device for receiving live communications,said method comprising: executing an application in said device toschedule a calendar event; associating a notification profile with saidscheduled calendar event; upon receipt of a live communication,processing the notification profile to determine whether to accept saidlive communication during said scheduled calendar event; executing aseparate notification profile settings application in said device so asto associate a notification criterion with said scheduled calendarevent, said notification criterion being indicative of said notificationprofile associated with said scheduled calendar event, said notificationcriterion including a string of text that is established by a user; saidnotification profile being defined within the separate notificationprofile settings application; wherein said notification profile isselected based on said string of text appearing in said calendar event.